Santa Maria business owner says he’s victim of Social Media bullying

A Santa Maria business is speaking out after they say a customer’s son went on social media, criticizing how they operate and at one point giving death threats.

Mario Ybarra, the owner of Carl’s Muffler Shop, said he’s the victim of social media bullying.

“It’s unbelievable,” Ybarra said.

He said he’s been losing sleep all week long. Ybarra said he wants people to know he’s running an honest business.

Ybarra has owned Carl’s Muffler Shop for the past 10 years. He said Monday was like any other day at the office.

“I had a customer come in and wanted a catalytic converter replaced, another shop advised her to replace it, we went ahead and did the services,” Ybarra said.

Ybarra said after they were done they did a complimentary check of the car for the woman.

“We saw she had other issues with the vehicle that would damage the catalytic converter, I advised my customer that if she didn’t get those repaired that it was going to void her warranty,” Ybarra said.

The next day, Ybarra got a phone call from that customer’s son, questioning why his mother wasn’t getting a warranty. Ybarra repeated that it was because the car had other problems that would damage that new catalytic converter.

“He had told me that he was going to send me to the Better Business Bureau, to the bar,” Ybarra said.

Ybarra said that the customer’s son didn’t just stop with the threatening phone call.

“He posted some stuff about me on social media saying that I steal from women, that I took her money away. It’s nothing like that, we’ve tried reaching out to this customer to tell him to come in here,” Ybarra said.

That post, which has since been deleted by the woman’s son, led to hundreds of comments.

“It’s like a cancer, you know, bullying is like a cancer,” Ybarra said.

Ybarra said this has impacted his livelihood.

We started getting death threats, we started getting people posting on social media saying they were going to burn my building down,” Ybarra said.

Ybarra said he’s talked with the man’s mother.

“And she says, ‘I know, I don’t know why my son did that, I told him you were trying to help me,'” Ybarra said.

Multiple customers we talked to said Ybarra was legitimate businessman and highly recommended.

“I think people need to use social media for what it’s intended for which is to connect with friends,” customer Brian Tippitt said.

“People can Yelp me, they can see what other experiences have been,” Ybarra said.

Ybarra has filed a police report with Santa Maria Police Department. That customer’s son has since deleted that Facebook post.

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